The Royal Military Academy's Impostor Owns a Dungeon [BL] Chapter 1152: Emergency Warning Lights

There were moments throughout history that quietly altered the course of countless lives, but every once in a while, fate delighted in reminding even the most capable people that all their brilliance amounted to very little when confronted with a single unexpected sentence that could leave someone nearly choking on honest-to-goodness air.

To be fair, it started with time stopping.

It was that poignant, almost cinematic sort of silence that frequently appeared in the dramatic works D-29 devoured with alarming enthusiasm, where the world quietly blurred into the background, every surrounding sound disappeared, and for one fleeting moment nobody else in existence seemed to matter except the person standing, in this case—sitting directly beside you.

Unfortunately, unlike those novels, reality had absolutely no intention of following the script.

Because before anyone could even process what Jax had just announced, someone’s allegedly geriatric lungs abruptly chose violence.

Specifically, Killian Nox’s.

The eldest son of House Nox descended into what could only be described as one of the most spectacular coughing fits in recent Imperial history, hacking so relentlessly that, had there been an official record for longest continuous attempt at coughing up one’s own soul, the Empire’s finest physicians would’ve probably been obligated to start a new category solely for him.

Then again, who could really blame the man?

He’d been so thoroughly blindsided that, for one horrifying instant, the entire ordeal genuinely felt worse than getting caught with his pants down.

Actually...

No.

Because more mortifying than losing to a baby bee in front of practically everyone who mattered, and somehow ending up with one of his younger brother’s best friends announcing, before his "child", his parents, Jax’s parents, members of two separate royal families, and the Imperial Family itself, that he intended to formally pursue him...

...was the utterly ridiculous fact that none of those things remained in Killian’s head for longer than a heartbeat.

Instead, his ability to think rational thoughts simply...

Vanished.

All because Jax, perhaps deciding that publicly detonating the young official’s remaining sanity still wasn’t enough, casually reached over and poked Killian’s arm with a single finger.

It wasn’t even a shove.

Not a grab.

Not even something that could reasonably qualify as a touch.

Just...

A tiny poke.

And somehow...

Killian completely fucking crumbled.

His ears burned first.

Then his face.

By the time his lungs finally remembered how to function, the heat had already climbed well past any hope of concealment, leaving him the sort of crimson usually reserved for emergency warning lights.

What the hell?

Just who was this embarrassingly inexperienced schoolboy who’d somehow possessed the body of a fully grown heir of House Nox for him to turn into a tomato before he’d even finished coughing?

More importantly...

Why was nobody stopping that guy from saying or doing things so utterly, catastrophically insane?

__

Well, simple.

No one else had expected it either.

Not only was this an utterly unprecedented combination, to the point that a good number of the frozen spectators were still trying to process the logistics of how any of this had even become possible, but it was also delivered with such unwavering confidence that the resulting whiplash left everyone’s thoughts grinding to a halt.

Sure enough, this was a level of boldness one could only aspire to emulate.

Even the Imperial Crown Prince and his aide, who’d already successfully confessed to the people they loved, distinctly remembered the lingering fear that came with putting their feelings into words.

Xavier had already been married by then, while Kyle had practically secured the rights to their first child before finally saying what needed to be said. They’d already crossed so many impossible hurdles and still feared rejection.

Yet somehow, just when those two thought they’d already skipped the generally accepted sequence of events and could safely be considered unconventional, they still ended up thoroughly outclassed by their even more unconventional friend.

After all, this guy hadn’t merely skipped a few steps.

He’d somehow managed to acquire a child first...

...before publicly announcing that he’d now be pursuing someone whom nobody present had ever seriously believed could even be budged.

Understandably, the thoroughly frazzled Killian Nox decided that this conversation absolutely could not continue in front of an audience. If he could’ve somehow asked even the spirits of their great ancestors to look the other way for a moment, he would’ve done so without a second thought, because this was shaping up to be one hell of a conversation.

"Would you excuse us for a moment?"

Nobody actually believed it was a request.

Before anyone could react, the eldest Nox had already grabbed Jax by the wrist and briskly marched him away, looking every bit like a man attempting to salvage what remained of his rapidly deteriorating sanity.

Of course, escaping wasn’t quite so simple.

There were entirely too many people whose eyes had already begun sparkling with irrepressible curiosity, and had Killian simply walked away with the redhead, there was little doubt they’d all follow after them under one excuse or another.

Fortunately...

There happened to be one very effective distraction.

Without missing a beat, Killian carefully peeled the blissfully oblivious little Queen Bee off himself before depositing her into the eagerly awaiting arms of her newly self-appointed grandparents.

The effect was immediate.

Every pair of curious eyes shifted toward the tiny bundle of fluff instead.

Taking advantage of the brief opening, Killian fled with Jax in tow before anyone remembered they were supposed to be eavesdropping.

Only after putting enough distance between themselves and everyone else did he finally whirl around to face the redhead.

"Have you completely lost your mind?" he demanded, thoroughly exasperated. "Are you actually serious right now?"

"Not crazy," Jax answered without the slightest hesitation. "And very serious."

He tilted his head slightly.

"Since when have I ever treated family relationships like a joke?"

Killian opened his mouth.

Closed it.

Then opened it again.

There were, quite frankly, several responses desperately trying to escape all at once, foremost among them being yet somehow, none of them made it out.

Because however unbelievable the entire situation sounded...

Jax simply didn’t look like someone pulling a prank.

If anything...

He looked like he’d already made up his mind.